Saving Danielle: My Story
by wfea
Summary: Valerie writes down her experience in saving Dani, but there's more to the story than we know...and she's writing it at the world hurtles towards its possible last days. Val's POV.
1. The Beginning

**A/N: **I probably need to explain a few things about this story before I start it. It's set at one place but lots of it is a "story" Valerie is writing that takes place in D-Stabilized. The line breaker is when it's separated between story and present and **it starts out with the story she's writing. ** My regular line breaker (889988998899) separates different scenes within either the present or the story. Lots of things are going to confuse y'all at first unless you can quickly figure out where everything's going (which you should be able to do by the end of this chapter if not before.)

Throughout most of the story, Val refers to Danny Phantom as simply Danny—usually—because after watching D-Stabilized again I realized she was calling him Danny most of the time. I don't know if I had ever realized that before so I was just pointing that off to ward off any confusion. If she's referring to Danny Fenton, his last name is mentioned unless it's extremely obvious.

**Timeline: **If had to guess, the trio was sixteen (or at least juniors) at the time of PP. There were two summer breaks during the entire show (Reality Trip and Claw of the Wild (that's the one, right?)) so it only makes sense that's how old they are.

That's what I'm using. Also, we know two weeks passed between the asteroid being knocked toward earth and the guys trying to stop it in PP. I'm adding a couple or weeks or so in between D-S and PP. Why? Just because. It would make sense that way; at least it would to me.

**Spoilers: **PP and D-Stabilized

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Danny Phantom or any related characters or episodes. I simply use them for my own personal enjoyment and the hopeful enjoyment of others.

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Chapter One: The Beginning

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_But could you really take part in destroying a human?_

The moment I saw Dani change into a ghost, my whole life's perspective changed. Were there other ghosts—or humans—like her? Of course, that wasn't the first thing that ran through my mind. The first thing that ran through my mind was capturing that girl, taking her to Vlad, and getting that new apartment he'd promised.

And then I used her. I used her so that I could find and capture Danny…Phantom. I guess I know why I was thinking that way then, but now I wouldn't do something like that even if I had the chance.

I had been so dense that I didn't even realize that she'd saved my life as she pushed me out of that collapsing building. I'd almost messed up a pretty cool possible friendship.

Whoa, whoa, whoa—I guess I'd better back up to the night it happened and try to forget about what's going on now. Ugh—I don't know if I hold out much hope for Danny and the rest of the team to be able to seriously get this operation off the ground…

It was the night I met Dani Phantom. After delivering her to Vlad Masters I had gotten Danny Phantom right where I wanted him. He'd either have to spill information or be tortured until he did.

After arguing with him and having to painfully get him to tell me that he'd give me the information I wanted, he started in on me giving up Danielle to Vlad.

_Why is he so hot on this topic? He's knows I hunt ghosts and he's knows I'm gonna do what I have to do to get rid of them._

"But could you really take part in destroying a human?"

I stood there—stunned. I think it had just hit me that Danielle _really _was part human. Danny…he said that if the ghost part is destroyed so is the human half but…Vlad would never destroy anything—anyone!

But…what if Danny was right? He'd been right a couple of times in the past and what said he couldn't be right about this? What if Vlad really was out to destroy Dani? What if he'd lied to me to get me to bring her to him so that he could destroy her? Then I really would be taking part in destroying a human. I-I could never.

_No, _I thought,_Vlad is a good man. He wouldn't destroy a human girl. _I gulped in a breath of air and glared at the ghost boy trapped above me. He looked down with a serious but scared look. He was waiting on me. He'd said all he was going to and was allowing me time to figure out whether or not I was going to let Vlad kill a girl.

I sighed and pressed a release button. Danny fell to the floor and looked almost stunned. "Don't gimmie that look, Danny. I'm just setting you free so that I can see the look of disbelief on your face when you see that I'm right and you're wrong," I told him.

"Whatever. I'm just glad you let me go. Now, come on! We don't have much time."

He grabbed my arm and I protested but when he pulled me through the ceiling I understood why he'd needed to grab it. I jerked it out of his grasp, though, once we started flying to wherever he was going. I didn't say anything, quietly following him.

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We landed in the Fenton's basement. I looked around. I'd only been down there a few times, but it was always interesting to see. There were tons of gadgets and gizmos lying around. I looked back at Danny and realized his hand was still on my arm. I frowned and pulled it away.

"What makes you think the Fentons would have anything to help Dani? They are ghost_hunters, _not ghost _helpers," _I reminded him, motioning to a place on the counter that held a powerful looking ecto-gun.

"Yes…and no," Danny responded, walking over to a table and looking around for something. What was that supposed to mean? The Fentons were ghost hunters. They weren't very good in my opinion, but they still hunted ghosts. I followed him to the table. "My da—uh, Jack Fenton tends to be a little of both." And what was with that slip of the tongue? Why would Danny _Phantom_ think that Jack Fenton was his dad? Ugh—there were so many questions back then.

He looked around on the table and smiled. He picked up some kind of injection device—at least that's what it looked like. "For the sake of all ghosts, I keep my eye on these guys and have a pretty good idea of what they're up to."

"You don't think it's a little dangerous flying into the lab of a family of ghost hunters?" I asked, curiously. If I was I ghost I sure would be afraid to come in this place.

A grunt caught my attention and both me and Danny looked up to where Jack Fenton had_somehow _gotten himself stuck at the top of some huge container holding some huge ghosts. "Something tells me we'll…be okay."

Eh…I had to agree with him there, even if not out loud. He grabbed my arm again and pulled us through the ceiling. Right as we got outside though he apologetically smiled and held up a finger. "Uh, hold up." He flew back down into the lab and I floated there, waiting on him, and telling myself that I was going in after him if he didn't show back up in less than thirty seconds.

He did, thankfully, and we shot off towards Vlad's mansion. I led the way and, again, there were no words exchanged between the two of us as we were focused into one thing: saving Danielle.

* * *

"Hey, Valerie."

I quickly shut my computer screen when I heard someone come up behind me. No one could see this, even if I wasn't very far into the story yet I didn't want anyone to see what I was typing.

_Especially _Danny.

And he was the one standing behind me…uh, Phantom that is.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"What are you doing? Playing on your computer while the world prepares to—"

"I'm not playing on my computer, Danny, I'm—I'm doing something that's important to me."

"Um, okay," he agreed. "I was just checking in to make sure you've got all you're jobs done. I don't mind you spending time alone in your room doing nothing, but your jobs to this mission have to come first, understand?"

"Crystal," I answered, not able to keep any kind of sarcasm out of my voice.

"Hey! Everyone has to contribute to this mission or else the world pays—"

"I know, okay Danny? I KNOW! I've got everyone's assignments to them, got everyone that's spreading the cables the right kind of aircraft scheduled, made sure those people know the times they need to take off and be back, and cleared it with every country's leader the approximate time they should expect the cables to land there. I know my jobs Danny. I know what I'm supposed to be doing tomorrow, when I'm supposed to be doing it, and how to do it. I just need a little bit of alone time and need a little break. I know I probably haven't worked half as hard or lost half as much sleep as you have preparing for this, but I know my part and I've done it. You can check it for all I care, but could you just…leave me alone for a while, please?"

The last part came pretty soft and I could tell that he hadn't been expecting me to reply that way. I couldn't tell if he was surprised at my outburst or surprised by the fact that I had _nicely_ asked him to leave me alone.

"Um, okay then, well…yeah."

I smiled softly as he left the room with a confused look on his face.

Yep, there's the clumsy fool I knew him to be…

I glanced at the clock. It was late. Too late for me to be up writing some kind of crazy, but true, story if I needed to be up early tomorrow morning to help out with the operation. I saved the file on my computer and climbed into bed, but quickly realized that there was no way I was ever going to be able to fall asleep under the pressing circumstances everyone was under at the moment.

An asteroid, heading toward earth and expected to hit tomorrow, was sure to keep me awake. And I was part of the team to help stop it. True, I wasn't as important as Danny or the team that was responsible for spreading the cables all over the world, or Tucker as he set up and planned more than half of everything going on around here, but I was still here and part of the team that was trying to save the world.

I swung my legs over the bed, just then realizing that I hadn't changed out of my clothes before I hopped in bed. Of course, with the freezing temperatures, I had decided to sleep in my coat anyway.

My dad and I shared a small area in the cabin. Our place was basically two small rooms with a small bathroom that was adjacent to both of them. Dad was in his room, probably either asleep or working hard on something needed for tomorrow—most likely the latter—but he had tried to make it seem as if he was going to bed. I slipped out of my room quietly and slipped into the quiet and empty hallway.

I first passed by a few rooms. Was everyone really asleep the night before the earth was planned to be turned intangible? If they were, I was amazed that they had brought themselves to be able to sleep. Next I passed by the central dining room in which families would come in at whatever time they had to eat if they didn't want to eat in their rooms. It hadn't been used for an actually meal everybody was present for yet. In fact, half of it had been turned over to the computer savvy and wires and computers were everywhere.

I passed the living room and casually glanced through the small window. I stopped when I saw who was in there. Danny Fenton, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz were all gathered together on a couch and a couple of chairs, most likely talking about the next day's events.

I bit my lip, wanting to know what they were talking about. I noticed a vent right beside them in the wall and ran to the closet one I could find, hoping that it would let me hear their conversation. I opened it and leaned into it.

"You sure you don't want to sleep, Danny?" Tucker asked, concern for his friend clear in his voice.

"Guys, I'm fine. There's no way I'd be able to fall asleep with everything I have to do tomorrow anyway. Besides, don't you need some sleep too?"

"Danny, we don't have to go into the ghost zone and round up a billion ghosts and then work with them to turn the entire world intangible," Jazz protested.

"So? Tucker's got to manage the computers and make sure everything's going all right. And you two have your own things to worry about, one of them being whether or not we're going to be alive tomorrow afternoon."

"I have no doubt you're gonna do it, Danny; none," Sam assured Danny. I sadly glanced down. Hadn't I just written that I didn't know whether or not Danny could get this whole thing to work?

"Still, you need to be in bed just as bad as I do. Besides, I have a lot on my mind that doesn't involve the future of the world. I just went to check-in on Val, you know, like I had been doing to everyone who was going to actually be inside the tower tomorrow, and she seemed kind of…out of it's probably a good way to describe what she looked like."

"Out of it how?" Jazz asked. I know she didn't know me as well, but I could only imagine what Danny had told her about me.

"She was working on something on her computer and at first I thought it was a game so I kind of got onto her, making sure to remind her she needed to work on her assignments. Then she goes and tells me everything about everything she's been told to do. The strangest thing, I think, was that she said please when she asked me to leave."

So I was right. He had been wondering why I'd asked him nicely like that. I smiled. That was probably a whole new world to him.

"Um, shouldn't you be happy she didn't snap at you?" Tucker asked.

"Well, yeah, but I'm still concerned. After she let me go after we rescued Dani she's been acting a little weird towards me. Oh, and I walked up to her a couple of weeks ago at school—actually the day after the Dani ordeal—and she looked…horrible, almost like she didn't sleep, and she acted like she didn't want to talk to me. I haven't done anything—well, as Fenton—to upset her…I don't think."

"Danny, let me tell you something about girls; you may not know you did something, but you probably did," Sam explained to him, though I could imagine her face being tight as she said it. I'd have to be blind to not see how much she liked the guy.

"Ugh, Sam, don't start on that again," Danny complained. Again? How much was I talked about among them? A fast beeping noise filled the air. I heard the faint tapping of a pen and a gasp.

"Danny," Tucker began, his voice quavering.

"Yeah?" Danny asked.

"The asteroid…it sped up."

"You have that thing programmed to tell you when the asteroid speeds up?" Sam asked.

"How did you do that?" Jazz questioned.

But Tucker answered Danny's question. "What? How?"

"I don't know. I have no clue, but the point is, it's moving faster now and we were barely going to have time to stop it tomorrow anyway."

"So…when's it getting here?" Danny asked, and I imagined him standing up and heading toward the door as he talked.

"About," Tucker began, tapping again on his PDA, "three hours earlier."

"WHAT?!"

"Um, yeah."

"Come on guys. Get up and tell everyone that needs to be at the tower working to get up and be ready to ride over there in thirty minutes. Only tell them what's going on if they ask and don't take the time to tell them everything even then."

The others didn't verbally respond, but I heard footsteps through the vent, and, as I carefully shut it, I heard footsteps down the hallway. I ran back to my room and lied down on my bed, trying to appear casual.

Not seconds later did Danny Phantom burst into my room and yell, "Get up and be at the front door in no less than thirty minutes." I didn't bother asking why since I knew, and even if I hadn't have known and wanted to, he was gone anyway.

I gulped, afraid we weren't going to make it in time. I hopped out of bed, grabbed a notebook and everything else I needed at the tower, and knocked on Dad's door.

"Yeah?"

"Dad! We need to get going to the tower right now!" I heard footsteps and the door opened.

"What?" he asked, his eyes wide.

"Can't explain. Danny will probably in a few minutes, but we need to leave in less than thirty minutes."

"Okay, go on, I'll be right there."

I bolted out the door to the front door where there were already ten people waiting with confused looks on their faces.

_So…here we go._

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So, I kinda hope y'all have figured out what happens in Val's story/my twist to D-Stabilized. If not, well, I guess you'll just have to wait until the next chapter.

This is going to be a five chapter story with chapters somewhere close to this length. Just letting you know. Review please!

Also, the story is finished so you don't have to wait months for an update…yay!


	2. Staying Behind

Kay well, hey y'all! Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day and was as spoiled by y'all's boyfriends/girlfriends as I was by mine. What, a dozen roses, chocolate, a monkey (very important for me), lotion, and a beautiful card isn't being spoiled? Hey, add the fact that we are so not even close to being out of high-school and it's pert near good.

Alright, that was so off-topic. I'd like to send out a grand thank-you to my reviewers and readers, and go ahead and kick off this chapter.

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Chapter Two: Staying Behind

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"All right, is everyone here?" Danny asked, standing at the top of the stairs as everyone that was to be present at the tower stood below him. Everyone looked around and it seemed like everyone was ready and present. It had been only twenty minutes since Danny had sent out the alert, but everyone had rushed to the door to see if they could find out what was going on.

"Okay, guys. Long story short, the asteroid's estimated time of impact has changed and will now probably land three hours earlier." Gasps went up from the crowd and the murmuring was stopped only when Danny held up a hand and said, "Yeah, yeah, I know. Listen, it's going to take all of us to get this up and running and I know you all are probably tired and want to get some rest, but I need to remind you that getting your jobs done effectively, quickly, and completely is a must. None of this would be possible without everyone being here right now." He paused for a minute and appeared to be thinking about something, but he quickly yelled, "Now everyone into the vehicles!"

A shout of hopeful triumph erupted from the crowd as eighty or so people all rushed to find a spot in one of the four-wheel drive jeeps and trucks. There were some people who had brought ATVs but after learning that the tower was more than twenty minutes away in a vehicle, they opted to get a seat in one of the trucks.

I was behind Maddie and Jack Fenton, about to get in, when I felt a strong hand on my shoulder. I turned around and saw that it was Danny.

"Valerie, got a minute?"

I shrugged and followed him away from the jeep, curious as to what he wanted to talk about. "Um, this may be asking a lot of you considering we're not on very happy terms and because I know you want to be where the action is, but I'm worried about people wondering where we are when they wake up. Do you…do you mind staying behind and filling them all in?"

I starred at him. Hadn't he just said that every one of us was important to the success of this mission? I shook my head. "No way. Who's going to do my job at the tower? Besides, if I don't get to be there, I might just scream."

"I know, I know, but I could probably get someone to cover your jobs and spreading the information that the asteroid is coming in sooner is important too. People here have jobs they need to get done or families they need to be in contact with before the asteroid gets here. Now, if those things needed to get done now, the people here would be awake and about right now too, but I want to give them as much time as possible to rest and telling them when they wake up would be a better idea. I need someone to tell them."

I glared at him. "But why me? I want to be out there!" I pointed toward where some vehicles were already headed toward the tower. "I'm going!"

"I picked you because I know you'll do it. I don't want to leave someone here I don't know because I wouldn't know whether or not I could trust them. I can't leave Tucker here; he's the head of the computers there. I can't leave Sam or my—I mean, any of the Fenton's here because…w-well, it's personal. I don't trust anyone else to really do it."

"It's just telling people news," I reminded him.

"Yeah, but it's important."

He must have trusted me. But why? Why would he trust me if every time I see him I'm pointing an ecto-gun in his face. I closed my eyes and swallowed my pride. "Fine, I'll stay."

"Thanks, Valerie."

"Phantom, you're riding right?" I looked to where Maddie's head was sticking out of the truck I had been about to get into.

"Um, yeah, yeah, I guess I'd rather ride than fly that far. I'm coming." He turned back to me. "Thanks, again."

He rushed down to where Maddie opened the door for him to climb in. I watched the truck, the last one, until it disappeared. Then I noticed how cold it was and hugged myself in an attempt to warm up before I ran back into the building.

I sighed and walked to the living room where I sat down and took out my notebook. _I should probably stay somewhere central if I want to see someone when they wake up. I so wish I could be typing this._

* * *

Danny grabbed my arm once more and phased us into Vlad's mansion. Right as our feet hit the floor and we began to turn tangible again we both heard a scream.

"DANNY! HELP!"

I looked around and assumed Danny did the same. "Dani?!" He shouted.

I pointed toward the fireplace. "It came from in there." Not half a second after those words left my mouth did Vlad Plasmius phase through the ground and land in front of the fireplace, laughing then plastering on a smirk.

Danny started walking towards him. "I don't want to fight you Vlad, I just want to save Danielle."

"Sorry, not on my watch." He laughed again and shot Danny with an ecto-blast. As Danny went flying backward into a bookcase, I jumped up and activated my jet-slide. I shot towards Plasmius, determined to knock him out of the air, but instead he simply turned intangible and I shot through him.

_Aw man, _I groaned. I turned my board up sharply and prevented myself from crashing into the ground. Then Plasmius turned around, still holding a mischievous smirk on his face, and yelled, "Feeling super in our new supped up suit, are we?" At the same, he shot an ecto-blast at me. My board was close to completely vertical as I activated a blue shield that deflected the shot.

"Actually, yeah," I answered him, smiling mischievously. I activated a device on my sled that shot sharp pink ectoplasmic darts at the ghost. Plasmius backed up with wide eyes and yet out a yelp as the weapons pinned him to the wall. "Not bad, but do you really think you can trap me, girl?"

I smiled. "I think I just did." To my utmost dislike, he turned intangible and floated through the wall and out of my trap. My smiled instantly faded. "What the?" How had I forgotten that he could easily slip out of a trap like that?

I growled and was prepared to bust through the floor to go after the ghost when the bookcase that had trapped Danny caught my eye. "Why is there…black hair sticking out?" I wondered aloud, walking over to the bookcase. I bent down, placed my hands around Danny's arms, and pulled as hard as I could. I only got him out half way, but I could tell that it was Danny _Fenton _that was in my arms.

"Huh?" I asked myself. When did Fenton get here? And why was he lying in the same exact spot _Phantom _had just been lying in. Speaking of which—where was Phantom? Had he gone on down with Plasmius? But then—why was Fenton here?

Was Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom the same person?

I stopped for a second and thought about that. There was no way the two were really the same person…right? Then again, Danielle was a girl and a ghost so…could that mean so was Danny Phantom?

I dropped the boy, remembering Danielle, and busted through the floor to where I was sure Plasmius was already trying to destroy the poor girl.

"NO!" I screamed with wide-eyes as Danielle, strapped to an upturned table, screamed as blue electricity crackled around her. Her scream turned high-pitched as I watched her feet begin to dissolve into nothing.

"DANNY!" she screeched. I even found myself hoping he could hear her. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I needed help.

"Let her go, Vlad!" I demanded of the ghost.

"Never," he sneered, turning to look at me with a sinister smirk. Did that guy ever have a face that didn't scream guilty? I couldn't imagine it.

"HELP!" Dani screamed again. I heard a loud thud from above me. "DANNY!"

"Valerie!" I turned around at the sound of my name. Danny was awake and his hair was back to white. Had I imagined Danny Fenton? His face showed worry and he flew down to the level I was floating at. "Why are you standing around?" The first thing I thought to say was, "I'm not standing," but I knew it wasn't the place to joke and before I even had a chance to figure out _why _I was just floating there, watching Dani dissolve into nothing, a loud knocking got my attention.

"Help! That horrible ghost trapped me and is going to destroy the girl!" The voice came from a closet, and I _knew _whose voice it was.

"Vlad?" I questioned with concern.

"Hello, Vlad's right in front of you," Danny tried to remind me as he motioned to Plasmius.

"Not him, Vlad_Masters_; this is his mansion," I reminded the boy. Was he really that dense? Of course Vlad Plasmius wasn't trapped in the closet; he was in plain view right now and could have phased out of the closet anyway. Plasmius must have trapped Vlad.

Wow. That just sounds weird thinking about it now.

I shot off down to the ground, jumped off my jet slide, and ran over to the closet door to open it. Right after the door opened an exhausted looking Vlad Masters fell into my arms. Even though I struggled, I managed to hold him up.

"As the sweet, caring, good-natured man that I am, I beg you, don't let him do it!" Vlad exclaimed.

"Ha!" I looked back at Danny. "Told you he was a good dude." Danny looked at me with a hard expression, as if he was mad at me…or mad at Vlad. But what had I done? What had Vlad done? I'd just proven I was right that Vlad was a good person.

"HELP!" Danielle exclaimed and Danny looked back at the girl. I snapped my head over there too. Danny flew over to where Danielle was strapped.

"What are you doing to her? Stop it, now!" I exclaimed, pushing Vlad up to stand on his own as I whipped around and shot Plasmius with an ecto-gun. I guess I had taken him by surprise. He didn't seem as ready and turned right as the blast hit him and pushed him into the wall. He fell to the floor in a heap as Danny flew right by him and landed by Dani.

He tried to touch Danielle, but was shocked by the blue electricity. He shot an ecto-blast at the restraints holding the girl down, but nothing happened. I noticed Plasmius getting up from where I'd blasted him earlier. I readied myself for another blast. I felt so useless, like I needed to help, but was out of place to.

"It's going to take more than you're little plasma ray to cut those ties, Daniel," Plasmius informed the boy. What did he want with this girl, anyway? I floated over to him on my hover board, readied my gun for another shot, and shot him into the wall.

Dani screamed again and when I looked over to her, I saw her legs melting into ecto-plasmic goop. Danny shot another ecto-blast at the restraints, again gaining no results. "I can't break them Danielle," he told her in a defeated tone. "There's only one thing left try. Feeling brave?" I noticed that Danny was holding the device he'd taken from the Fenton's—possible his—home.

"A little weak in the knees actually," Dani answered him. "And I don't even have knees anymore!"

"Well then let's hope my dad didn't mend his Achilles heel." _His dad, _I thought. I suppressed a gasp; Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom _was_the same person! He'd obviously forgotten I was in the room. He shot the liquid from the device close to Danielle's melting arm.

"I…think it's too late," Danielle barely mumbled. I was thankful I was standing close enough to hear. "Bye Danny. Thanks for—"

"Oh no," Danny mumbled as Danielle melted into green ectoplasmic goop, caught in a container laid beneath the table. "NO!" He exclaimed. "No, Dani, I-I failed you."

I suddenly felt myself being pulled backwards. I tried screaming, but the person's hand was over my mouth. "You meddle too much, girl," Plasmius's sinister voice echoed in my ear.

* * *

"Mam?"

I looked up when I heard someone talking. It was one of the many military people who were scurrying around the place.

"Um, hi," I greeted, closing my notebook and standing up.

"Where is everyone? I know I must be up kind of early, but I thought Phantom and the others would already—"

"Listen," I interrupted him, moving closer to the door he was standing in front of, "I need you to tell this to everyone when they wake up. The asteroid's impact time has been moved up to sometime late this morning instead of this afternoon like we originally thought. Phantom and everyone else who is supposed to be at the tower is already there getting ready for impact. Tell everyone to do whatever it is they need to do before the asteroid gets here."

He stared at me, dumbfounded. Finally, he spoke up, "It's…going to get here sooner?"

"Yes! Now tell everyone when they wake up!" I bounded out the door of the living room and ran to the front door. With my hand on the doorknob, I heard the man yell,

"Wait! Where are you going?"

"I'm part of the team at the tower and I'm not missing this," I answered him. I opened the door and whipped my head around to look at the guy. "Do you have a car I can borrow?" I needed one; if only I had my now destroyed jet-slide.

He shook his head no and I growled. "Sorry, my car was part of the caravan that was taking everyone to the tower. I figure they're all gone if you're telling the truth." I stepped out into the cold. Wind instantly took hold of my notebook and sent it flying onto the ground. I bent down to pick it up, but the wind took hold of it again, pulling it further away from the cabin.

I ran after it and when the wind died down, I was able to bend down and pick it up. I looked to see I hadn't actually run far from the cabin. Then I looked in front of me and saw the row of ATVs people had brought. I smiled. I'd found my ride to the tower.

I quickly searched each one, looking for one with a key in it. It wasn't until I looked in the last one, my hope almost gone, when I finally found one with a key in it. I slung my leg over the seat and started the ATV. I knew it was going to be a long ride, but I just _had _to be part of the tower team. I couldn't stand staying behind.

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So, yeah. Not much to say but please review and tell me your thoughts!!! (and anything that you might want an answer to)


	3. Time of Impact

Hehe…oops. I'd like to have it to where Valerie could actually be writing the story as it happens, but I need it almost completely out of the way if I want to continue in on the on-going story…so, the first part of this chapter is the "story" she's writing even though she would not have been able to have been writing this while doing what she was doing at the time.

Hope that made sense. If not, just enjoy the fic!

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Chapter Three: The Time of Impact

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I quickly jumped in the air, flipped over the ghost's head, knocking him in the back of the head as I did so, and landed on the floor. "Meddling's my specialty, ghost," I sneered. I whipped out my ecto-gun once again, blasting him in the chest so I could buy enough time to fly back into the lab.

"I'm me again!" I heard Danielle exclaim. _Wait—Dani? She's alive! _"I knew you wouldn't let me down." 

I knew Vlad was right on my tail. "A little help here!" I screamed as I swooped down by the two_half-_ghosts. Plasmius shot an ecto-blast at me and I barely evaded it. 

"With pleasure." As I flew in a wide arc with Plasmius right behind me, I looked back just in enough time to see Dani punch Vlad into the ceiling, getting him off my tail. I stopped, curious to watch the ghost girl in action. Plasmius appeared out of the rubble and sneered. 

Dani was holding him by his cape. She swung him over her head, sending him crashing into five columns and finally landing on one of his computers.

"I never got to thank you for the homecoming!" Danielle screamed as she sent four ecto-blasts flying at the fallen ghost—two from her feet. _Homecoming? I'm missing something big here, _I told myself, watching Plasmius evade every blast with skilled ease and noticing Danny making his way over to me. I landed on the ground, walking closer to the scene with Dani.

"Ha! You missed me!" Plasmius exclaimed. Danielle then rammed into the ghost with her fist, sending him flying into the wall. 

"Guess that'll teach him to pick on a defenseless girl," Dani said, with a determined face. 

"There's no such thing," I told the kick-butt girl. 

"Get Danielle out of here, Valerie. I'll be right behind you," Danny ordered me. I smiled at Dani, then hopped on my jet slide and shot off with the girl right behind me. 

Once outside, floating in mid-air, waiting on Danny to show up, I asked Danielle something. "Homecoming? Apparently you know the guy."

"Duh. What, don't you think he had a reason he wanted to destroy me?" she asked. I gave her a look that told her I wanted to know why. She herself had said she couldn't have destroyed anything—uh, in her previous state that is. "He…" she started, but didn't finish. 

I sighed. "Please tell me. You can trust me," I encouraged. _Wow. Never thought I'd say that to a ghost…a girl. A ghost girl. _

"He wanted to make a perfect clone of Danny—not an imperfect one, like me. Danny told you I was unstable didn't he?" I nodded. "That's what he meant."

"Y-You're Danny's clone?" I asked, amazed. Whoa. Plasmius is a sick and twisted dude. 

"Yeah," she admitted. 

"Um, Dani, sorry for capturing you," I apologized. "And for using you as bait to catch Phantom." 

"S'kay. You didn't know any better." 

I smiled as her innocence. Then, I quickly thought up a good joke to play on Danny. "Hey, go invisible," I told the girl. She did just as Danny flew through the wall of the house.

"Dani! That was awesome!" He exclaimed with a huge smile on his face. Upon not seeing said girl, he questioned, "Dani?" I floated there, looking as if I hadn't a clue. He flew over to me. "Valerie, where's Dani?" She must have been able to read my mind because right as he got close to me, Dani suddenly popped up. 

"Boo!" We instantly burst into laughter at Danny's startled face. 

"Ha ha, very funny," Danny said dryly. As we sobered up, Dani started in on her thank-you speech.

"Thank you both. Vlad would've baked me into a puddle of nothing if you hadn't saved me."

"That's what family's for, cuz," Danny told her, laughing. I smiled. They acted normal. Two ghosts…or should I say two humans…or—that reminded. Danny Fenton. I narrowed my eyes. "So uh, now what? Heading off?"

"Yup. Now that this Phantom is fixed, she's got places to go," Dani answered. I had to smile at the adventurous spirit I saw in her. It was no wonder we got along so great.

"Well just be safe, okay?" Danny told her. Wow, he cared for her a lot. 

"Aw, Danny, nothing can hurt me now," she reminded him. _That's for sure, _I thought, _if she fights like that all the time. _She leaned in a kissed him on the cheek. "See ya, and thanks Valerie!" She waved good-bye to me, the grin on her face being extremely contagious. And then—Dani Phantom, the first half-ghost I ever found out about and possible still one of the people I felt really close to—flew off into the night. 

Both Danny and I stood there, watching her for a moment. Then, I realized Danny had both of his hand sticking out at me. I looked at him weirdly. "What's that for?" I asked, wanting more than anything to tell him I knew his secret. But I didn't need to do that yet; in fact, I needed to get away from his as soon as possible. I felt like I was about to explode.

"Deal's a deal. You helped me save Dani; you can now have me back as you're captive."

I laughed and smiled briefly. "Hmph, forget it." _I don't need you around me right now._

"What?" he asked, completely confused. 

"Fly away, ghost boy, before I change my mind," I ordered him, a little more threateningly. Maybe he'd figure out I didn't want him around right now.

He laughed. "Alright, I'm going," he told me in a tone that sounded like he was testing me to see if I was for real. He floated up and began to fly away, but I couldn't resist. I shot him with one of my ecto-guns. "OW! What in—"

"But don't think this is gonna last. Tomorrow, it's game on," I told him.

"And I'll be ready to play," he assured me, flying off for real this time. It was then I wondered when exactly hunting him had become a game to both of us. 

But I suddenly remembered something. Danny had been wrong. I was right. "I told him Vlad was a good guy." I looked toward the black sky. Suddenly, I gasped. "Mr. Masters! I forgot about him!"

I flew back into the house and down the stairs to the lab, where I'd last seen my benefactor. "Mayor Masters! Are you okay?" I asked, hovering slightly above the ground, and flying forward slowly. "Mayor Masters!" I retracted my jet slide and walked forward a little further.

I looked around a computer, hearing Vlad's voice and seeing his feet. "Disappeared! Huh—we were so close. If only we'd managed to melt that little brat down." I ran over to where I could see him fully, but to where I'd be hidden from his sight range. Why was he talking like that and who was he talking to? 

"Is that…Plasmius?" I asked myself, confused. It sounded like Plasmius, but I knew it was Vlad. 

"And who knew Valerie would be so easy to fool?" I then saw who he was talking to. A hologram of Danny's mom. _Ugh—freaky. But it's sure enough Mayor Masters…wait! Fool me how?_

"Trapping me in the closet," he continued to say as the hologram disappeared. Then, the same rings, except these black, that had transformed Dani into a girl appeared around Vlad's waist. "Genius. For a smart girl, she's very easily led." After the rings had made it completely over his body, of all people, Plasmius was floating in place of Vlad Masters. _How many half-ghosts are there?_

I blinked, my mind not hardly registering how I managed to get back on my feet, get my jet slide going, and get out of the house. "Vlad Masters is Vlad Plasmius! Phantom was right all along, and all this time I've been doing all his dirty work! Well, not anymore. Watch out Vlad, cause one of the ghosts I'm huntin' now, is you." 

That was a promise. So, Plasmius _did_ have an innocent face and it was Vlad Masters. Humph—not anymore. I'd never do his dirty work again. 

_I swear, Vlad, if it's the last thing I do, you'll be the ghost that wished you never existed. _

I didn't realize until I got home that night that, not that long ago, that had been Phantom's reserved title. I had a lot of thinking to do, and I wasn't looking forward to school the next day. 

* * *

Almost forty-five minutes later, I pulled up to where people were bustling about, getting ready for the asteroid's impact. I parked just a little ways off, sticking the keys in the pocket of my jacket. I walked through the place, towards the tower, where I knew what I was supposed to be doing.

"VALERIE!" 

I turned on my heel, expecting someone to be in danger. Instead, I saw an extremely angry Danny floating down to the ground. "I told you—"

"I know, okay Danny?" I interrupted him, trying not to get mad at him. "Some guy woke up and I told him what to tell everyone. I told you," I stepped closer to him, "I'm _not _missing the action."

His eyes were wide at first, before he broke into a small smile. "Look," I began, my eyes shifting to the snow below. I had to tell him everything I knew. Who knew whether or not this plan was going to work? And I wanted him knowing what I knew just in case we would never see each other again. "I need to tell you something before the asteroid gets here. I—"

But I was interrupted by Jazz. "Danny, Sam needs to talk to you before you head off. It's…kind of important," she told him. She then noticed me. It looked as if she forced a smile. "Hi." 

I smiled, but as Jazz drug Danny towards wherever Sam was, I rolled my eyes. "I'll bet I know what they need to talk about." 

I turned and continued jogging toward the tower. When I'd finally made it to the top, I turned and looked down in just enough time to Sam and Danny kiss. _Yep, I was right. _

After that, Danny flew into a jet seconds before a ghost portal opened right above him and within twenty seconds, he was gone. I looked around and ran over to one of the keyboards to get started on my job when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, sweetie, I took care of it." It was my dad. I turned around to look at him. "Danny Phantom told me what he told you to do and asked me to finish your jobs."

"You trust him?" I asked, uncertainly. Dad had had guns blazing when Danny had shown up at Axion. He glared at me. I guess he probably thought I was asking that because I couldn't imagine him liking someone so "evil." 

"Valerie, the world's at stake right now. The least you could do would be—"

"Dad, that's not why I asked the question; I trust him for this mission and I'm just asking whether or not you do—which I guess you do." 

He looked at me strangely. "You trust him?"

"The world's at risk, isn't it?" I knew I should probably not make very obvious the fact that I'd grown to trust Danny a whole lot more in the last few weeks. I would need to answer questions as to why I suddenly changed my mind, and I wasn't prepared to answer them yet. 

Dad smiled, and not very long after our conversation did Tucker exclaim, "He's coming back!" 

Dad and I rushed over to where Danny's family and friends were gathered together. Everyone cheered as the jet Danny had flown into the ghost zone came flying out of the portal. But everyone's faces fell in confusion and fear as it took a nose dive and pulled out right before it hit the ground. It flew right over our heads and crashed into one of the nearby mountains. 

"Danny. No. He-He can't be…" Sam trailed off as she ran to the window closet to where the jet had crashed. 

"It's coming!" I heard Tucker exclaim. The asteroid covered the sun, making the entire tower dark.

I turned toward Dad, the rest of the tower drowned out as if it were only me and him. Danny couldn't have failed. NO! He wouldn't let the world down. I knew this had to be a dream, that me and Dad were home in bed and I was about to wake up and I would be back in Amity Park. 

Dad wrapped me in a bear hug. "I love you, and I'm proud for what you've done…here and back home," he told me. 

I whimpered, hoping against all hope this wasn't really the end, and hugged Dad back with all my might. "I love you too, Dad, but this can't be the end. He didn't fail; he _wouldn't_." I had never even been able to officially set things straight with him. 

"Valerie, it sounds like you trust him so much," Dad mentioned. I bit my lip and overheard Danny's mom yell, 

"Jasmine, where's your brother?" I turned towards her and saw her looking at where her son had just been obliterated. "Jack, where's Danny?" I felt sorry for her, but there was nothing I could do. We wouldn't even be here in a few minutes. As I turned back to tell Dad everything I knew as fast I could I heard another voice. 

"Look! The portal!" Sam exclaimed. Everyone, including Dad and me, rushed to the glass where we could see what Sam was talking about. Right as my line of vision included the portal, Danny Phantom followed by millions if not billions of ghosts burst forth from the portal. Everyone cheered again as the ghosts flew toward the device that would allow them to turn the entire world intangible. 

No one stood around much longer after that. Everyone rushed to their stations. Tucker and his squad of the computer savvy sat down by their computers. I awaited the signal from Danny's dad and when it came, I pushed the buttons I'd been told to push. There were so many people doing so many different things that the only people who had to do much more than I did was Tucker and his team. After pressing the right buttons, I alternated watching Tucker and Danny. 

Outside, every cable turned green with ecto-energy. Not much longer after that, Tucker, watching his computer intently, screamed, "NOW!" I knew Danny was on the other end of that conversation and right as the command exited his mouth the earth began turning intangible. I braced myself and a cool, tingling feeling erupted when the intangibility swept over me. 

Before I had even grown accustomed to the feeling, the huge asteroid passed right through the earth, not a hundred yards from where I was standing in the tower. It was seconds after that that the earth and everyone in it turned tangible again. I looked around at everyone. Many were hugging family members, some still had their eyes shut, and before I knew it I wrapped up in a huge hug. 

"I told you he wouldn't fail." I knew it was Dad behind me. I looked up at him and he smiled down at me. 

"Looks like you were right." Before I knew it, everyone rushed out of the tower. Dad and I followed, and though I was near the end of the huge flow of people to begin with, I quickly caught up to Tucker, who was right behind Jazz. I was smiling crazily, happy to be alive. 

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Eh...not the best if you ask me. I didn't really expand on much of the actual episodes so...yeah. This is probably the worst chapter in my opinion, so seriously, give me your opinions.


	4. Venting and New Friends

Heh. Don't worry, I didn't actually forget about this story, but thanks to a concerned reader, pHaNtOmFuRy, my mind was jogged a bit. And I guess I can take this time to send out my thanks and let people know that I'm not afraid of people asking about my stories through pms. Have a question or concern? Feel free to let me know.

_Wow that sounded like a commercial. _

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Chapter Four: Venting and New Friends

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Half-ghost.

There were at least three, but it still didn't make any sense. How was a person a ghost and a human at the same time? It wasn't logical. At least, I didn't think it was logical.

I sighed from the position I was laying on my bed—my legs flat against the wall and my back on my bed. I had gotten home not ten minutes ago…from one of the craziest days of my life.

_Let's see…be sent on a chase by someone I thought I could trust to catch someone I thought was evil, discover a half-ghost, capture Danny Phantom, help Danny Phantom, discover _he's _actually Danny Fenton, and discover my benefactor and one of the most trustworthy guys I thought I'd ever known is a half-ghost too…and an evil one at that. _

I did a back-flip and landed on my feet on the floor—a little unsteadily to be honest, but still on my feet. "So does that mean I don't think Danny's evil?" I mumbled to myself.

I sat back down on my bed. Danny was fighting Pl—Vlad and I knew for a fact that Plasmius was evil even if I thought Vlad Masters was one of the nicest men on the earth. So if Danny was fighting Vlad, Danny had to be good, right?

_Not necessarily. They could both be evil, but disagree on something. _I groaned. That didn't make any sense if any of the things Danny had done meant anything. Sure, he'd destroyed stuff and I blamed him for everything. But as I sat there I suddenly remembered all the times he'd said he didn't want to fight me; he'd never thrown the first punch; and every time I fought him, it seemed like after he got rid of me he would go on to do something extraordinary.

And there were the times that we'd gotten along just long enough to overthrow whatever common enemy and situation we'd managed to get ourselves into. I laughed, thinking of how putting the two of us together could get us both of us, if not others, into serious trouble. My mind floated to when Skulker had decided we were both worthy of being hunted by "the ghost zone's greatest hunter," as I recall Danny mentioning. We really had gotten along just long enough to escape the place. The days right after that I seemed to have forgotten about getting along with him—I'd gone right back to hunting him.

Now I guess I know how Danny Fenton had gotten in my room, and why he was really in there.

And there was the incident with Pariah Dark. We'd teamed up, and when I say we that even included Vlad at that time, to fight an extremely evil ghost.

And I suppose there really was a ghost in that computer when we blasted off into space, but once we were in space, he shocked me!

_Yeah, because of my board, _I reminded myself bitterly.

I cradled my head in my hands. Then I had said no to Danny so that I could protect him from himself—and there wasn't any reason to protect him anyway.

_Wait a second…_

"He destroyed my suit!" I exclaimed, leaping up. Right before I'd gotten my new suit, Danny had destroyed my old one. He destroyed it hoping to destroy me! "Ugh! But Danny wouldn't do that…not Danny Fenton." I fell back onto my bed and sighed.

Fenton wouldn't have wanted to do that, right? There was no way. He'd been all happy about us possibly dating—he wouldn't have come right back and wanted to kill me then. There had to be some reasonable explanation as to why he totally destroyed that suit, but I didn't know what it was.

"Oh, right," I mumbled, suddenly remembering the reason I'd even gotten into ghost hunting in the first place. Was that really not his dog? I hadn't wanted to hear him when he said it wasn't and I didn't want to believe it now, but could he have been telling the truth? Yes, he ruined my life but—

And my thoughts came to a stop. _Had _he ruined my life? Sure, I went from someone to no one faster than someone could blink an eye, but could that have actually taught me something? I knew it had. I had let go of countless material possessions and sought after one goal.

Granted, that goal was destroying Danny Phantom, but it had made me a stronger person, showed me that money wasn't everything. After that, there was a struggling time where me and Danny Fenton could hardly get along, but the Pariah Dark episode was also a bonding time between Danny and me. We had gotten closer.

And even closer later on, before I put him second next to destroying Danny Phantom. We hadn't talked very much after we officially let it go, but there was an occasional word spoken between us; we didn't hate each other and I considered us close to friends.

Had Danny and that dog not come along, would I even be hunting ghosts now? Hunting ghosts was my hobby and practically my life and I couldn't imagine not being a part of it. And, would Danny and I be where we were? I would probably still be on the A-list, surrounded by people that didn't care about me.

I didn't like thinking about it, and I wanted to sleep. I twisted myself into a comfortable position and before long, I was out.

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"Valerie! Hey, Val! I have a question!" It was the following day at school and it just so happened that Danny was chasing after me. I stopped and waited on him to catch up, but didn't turn to look at him. Even though I'd fallen asleep pretty fast the night before, I felt horrible and hadn't had a good night's worth of sleep.

He skidded to a stop behind me and apparently he wanted to know why I didn't look at him. "You okay?"

"Fine; what?" I asked, harshly. I may have almost come to terms with a lot of stuff last night, but I was nowhere near through venting to myself.

"Um, I just wanted to know if you got the homework written down for second period."

"Oh yeah." I turned around to face him. "You left to go to the bathroom. How long does it take you in there anyway? You never came back." It was harsh—I know. Especially since I kind of figured he left to fight a ghost or something, because my tracker had gone off two seconds before he was out of the room.

He looked at me with a scared expression on his face. "Um, I—"

"Forget it. Read section three of chapter eight and answer the questions at the end of it." And, I trudged off.

I avoided him for a week or so, even when I was ghost hunting, and every night I would come home and almost talk myself into believing he was good, but sleep would overpower me.

It was two weeks from the Dani rescue day that I met up with him as Danny Phantom again. I had been flying in the sky, trying to clear my head one night when I caught sight of him._ I've got to do it, _I told myself. I wanted to pull the trigger on him just once more, even though I was closer than ever in my midnight rants to convincing myself that he was good. I just wanted to really observe a fight with him one more time.

And I had long since convinced myself that telling him I knew his secret right now wasn't the best option I had. He'd freak—I'd freak—and someone would get hurt.

I threw up my arm and one of my ecto-canons emerged, but then I thought twice. It retracted and instead I sped up and lifted higher into the sky—above the ghost. When I'd gotten far enough ahead and above him, I slowly drifted down directly in front of him. I really wanted to see if he really wasn't going to attack first.

A minute went by…then two…and three. I turned my head a short distance to see if I could see him behind me. I could. I turned my head back. A full five minutes passed before I determined that he was defiantly not going to attack me; so I stopped and turned in one swift motion and brought up the ecto-canon.

I saw his face contort into surprise and he stopped suddenly, trying to flee back in the other direction. But he was too late. The shot almost hit him. I had purposely not aimed directly at him. His eyes widened, looked to where the shot was headed and looked back to me…

…before disappearing.

I sighed. He hadn't even shot back at all.

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Another week of midnight thinking and I had come to the conclusion that Danny was defiantly good, and had even decided to try and let him know that by telling him as the Red Huntress, but I still really wanted some explaining from him. I didn't think I was ready to let him know I knew his secret though, and I made up my mind to not tell him unless some kind of end of the world crisis came upon us.

And that would never happen.

After making up my mind to tell Danny Phantom that I wasn't going to hunt him anymore, he disappeared. It seemed to me that he suddenly vanished. I no longer saw him in the sky at night or fighting ghosts during the day.

Thing was, I still saw Danny Fenton around. He had bleached a stripe through the middle of his hair white like Phantom's, but he was still around none-the-less. He also wasn't leaving class to "use the bathroom" anymore either. The Master's Blasters took over ghost hunting, and my board was destroyed in trying to hunt ghosts myself.

I was aggravated and mad at no one in particular, and I found myself wishing Danny would regain his senses and get back to fighting. It burned me alive seeing the Master's Blasters get all the glory for hunting ghosts when both of us had been doing it so much longer and we were both now gone—even if I didn't know why Danny suddenly vanished.

It was days after that when I heard the news about the disasteroid.

* * *

Seconds after Danny's feet touched the ground, Sam tackled him, followed by Jazz and Tucker. I wanted to, but I knew it wouldn't be appropriate so I stopped only feet away from the fallen four.

"Awesome," Sam complemented.

"Nice job, little brother…or should I say, hero," Jazz told Danny. I smiled at the group, simply standing a few feet away from them as others filed in around them and behind me.

Danny stood up, and I suddenly noticed the immense group of ghosts standing close to us.

Danny stood up. "I don't know what to say other than thanks, Skulker…to all of you." Skulker didn't look too happy and I wasn't that surprised when he picked Danny up by his jumpsuit and threatened,

"Don't get too mushy on us ghost child. Remember, I'll never stop hunting you, and now that you've saved your world, you're a much more valuable prize." With that, Skulker let go of Danny and headed off with the rest of the ghosts back to their home.

Anticipation washed over me. I remembered Danny's mom freaking out about where Danny was and asking Jazz. Did they know Danny's secret now? If so, what would be their reaction? If not, would their reaction actually be worse than what it would be if they knew it was their son?

The next thing I knew a loud voice exclaimed, "Nice job, Danny, or should we say…_Danny…" _I looked and realized it was Danny's parents. It _sounded_ as if they knew their son's secret. It wouldn't be a surprise if Jazz _had _told them—minutes ago we did think the world was about to end.

Danny looked scared. "What? Uh," and from here he continued in a "superhero" voice that I found extremely hilarious. "Sorry, citizens, but I have no idea what you're talking about." He waved his finger in a dramatic gesture that almost made me laugh.

His mom bent down to look him in the eye, giving him that look that only a mom could give—the look that made you want to give up and give in and spill everything you'd ever held back from her. I bit my lip. It had been a long time since I'd seen that look. "Isn't there something you want to tell us?" she asked in a pleading tone, like she wanted her son to outright say it was him.

Jazz piped up and said, "It's okay Danny, they know." Aha! So I was right! She had told them after the crash. I looked to Danny, though, as he looked around at the crowd. Would he expose himself in front of everyone? I highly doubted so. But as he scanned the crowd, he adopted a serious face. He stared right at his parents as blue-white rings surrounded his waist and split apart.

I'm not sure if my mouth dropped open or I gasped or what, but I was amazed. He'd actually revealed himself in front of everyone. And that everyone would soon become everyone back at the cabin, then Amity Park, and eventually the world.

He looked around at the crowd, probably anticipating their response. Then, at once, the eighty or so people who stood in a circle around the world's most famous ghost—and now they knew, human—applauded. And I clapped with them.

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Only minutes later, people began gathering together in groups to head back to the cabin to get some much needed sleep. I knew for a fact many people standing here now hadn't slept more than five hours since we'd arrived here to begin working on this project many days ago.

One by one, cars drove off toward the cabin. It wasn't long before there were only a handful of people left—Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, Danny, Sam, Tucker, Jazz, my dad, and me. There were two trucks left, plus the ATV I'd ridden. I was working my way to said ATV when I felt an arm grab my shoulder.

I turned around, expecting it to be Dad asking me about where I was going, but it ended up being, "Tucker?" I asked.

"Hey, Val. Where ya headed? Cars are this way." He sounded…different—like he was trying with all his might to stay away from a specific topic…Danny.

I granted his wish. No need to make a difficult situation awkward and more difficult. "I rode an ATV over. I suppose I should get it back over there, don't you think?" I jerked my arm away from him.

He looked at me uncertainly, but walked away anyway. I turned and walked back to the ATV. It was then I heard a familiar voice…this one from a few feet above my head.

"Hey! I sure didn't think I'd see you again this soon!" I turned and saw, of all people, Danielle floating above me. I smiled as she floated down to my eye level.

"Hey, Dani!" I greeted. "I guess I should suppose you helped with the whole intangible earth thing?"

"Course; it seemed like every ghost in the ghost zone did, though I would actually believe it if some didn't. There's like six trillion billion ghosts in that place. I don't think we would've had enough time to get all the ghosts out."

"Isn't six trillion billion like a twenty-two digit number?" I asked.

She laughed and happily exclaimed, "Sure is!"

"So, you didn't go back to the ghost zone after we saved the planet?" I asked the ghost girl.

"Nah. I just happened to be passing through the place when Danny rounded up all the ghosts. I'm usually somewhere on earth having fun." I smiled at Dani. She was so carefree, fun, and happy all the time. "I'm taking a wild guess to say you helped out in the tower, right?" I nodded. Her face suddenly fell. "So…you saw Danny transform?" I nodded again.

"Yeah, and before you get any wild ideas—hey, wait just a second. How did you know I knew Danny Fenton…how did you know it was me?!" I suddenly screamed. Dani smiled innocently.

"I popped up in front of Danny's face a couple of minutes ago. I guess you weren't paying attention right then or something or else you would've seen me, but after we got done talking a little, I asked if you were here."

"What was his reaction?" I asked curiously even though I figured she was just about to tell me.

"His expression turned to that of blatant horror. I suppose he was just remembering the fact that you had seen him transform first hand. He told me you were, and I asked about why he made that face. He gave me about two years worth of you two's history in about two minutes. Then I asked him where you were and he pointed me to you!"

I laughed—that was all I could do. The story in itself wasn't funny in the least. But the carefree, smiling ghost girl just made it funny.

"So…you don't hate him, do you?" Dani asked. I looked at the worried expression on her face and smiled.

"No, I don't and it's a long story as to why and I'm afraid that if I told you you'd go back and tell Danny before I could get to him." She laughed and agreed with me. "Besides, I need to get back to the cabin and get some sleep. Ugh…if only I didn't have to ride this ATV back." I sighed and was about to hop on it when Dani suddenly exclaimed,

"Oh yeah! I almost forgot." She pulled out a folded up red…something from behind her back. As I looked at it, it suddenly expanded and turned into my jet slide.

"Wha…but how?" I asked, pulling the jet slide from her hands and into mine.

"I heard about it getting broken from some of the ghosts and decided to try and get it fixed, but since I couldn't get the pieces I decided to get you a new one made instead because I figured it meant a whole lot to you."

"But it looks exactly like my old one," I mentioned, examining the board thoroughly.

"Yeah, there's this ghost in the ghost zone that can make an exact replica of anything. I remembered as much as I could about what your slide looked like and drew it out for the guy. I guess I remembered a good bit of it huh?" Dani asked, looking at me with wide, happy eyes. "Do ya like it?"

I activated my suit and jumped into the air, throwing the slide up with me. It found its place under my feet. I smiled and looked at the girl. "I love it. Thanks, Dani." I gave her a hug.

"Your welcome, Valerie. See ya later!" And once again, the first half-ghost I ever learned about shot off into the sky. I threw my hands up in victory. I had a new jet slide, and I was extremely happy about it. I started on my way back to the cabin, happy to have seen Danielle again.

I realized on the way there that I'd never gotten a chance to talk to Danny about everything and that I should've probably let him know about when I first found out about his double life weeks before all of this. I smiled, anticipating his reaction.

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Yay, so the next chapter's the last. Yes, I know it's been a short ride, but I figured that's probably the _best _thing for me right now—that is, a short and sweet multi-chapter deal.

Hope to read your review and see you next time.


	5. Revived Friendship

Enjoy the last chapter...the conversation between Val and Danny that is anticipated in any story in which she finds out his secret...slightly twisted.

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Chapter Five: Revived Friendship

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I landed behind the cabin, amongst a good amount of trees, and retracted my suit. I casually made a wide arc around the cabin and joined in with a group that had just arrived from the tower. They were talking...fast and loud.

"So...what do you make of it?" a blonde headed girl asked.

"I don't know. I guess he's sort of half human, half ghost, but that doesn't make any sense," another answered.

"But you defiantly think he's the world's greatest hero, right?" the blonde headed girl asked.

"Well, duh. Ooh! I can't wait to tell everyone about this crazy thing!" The girl turned to look at me. "So what about you? Who you gonna tell and how fast? Me and my friend are making a contest out of who can tell how many the fastest."

I stared at the two with disbelieving eyes. Was this how everyone was going to react? With blatant disregard to the human kid? They were treating him like some kind of inanimate object. "Are you kidding? You're not treating him like a human being, and if I didn't know that you weren't talking about a kid, I'd think you were talking about winning some sort of prize."

I stalked off, leaving the two girls most likely staring after me like I'd lost my mind. I didn't care. I didn't want them talking about Danny like that. It made me mad.

I finally trudged through the door to my room. I was tired. I don't think I had realized until that moment how tired I actually was. Had I really not gotten that much sleep since I'd been up here? _Probably not. I've been awake writing and worrying._ I glanced at the computer, but it wasn't hard for me to move my feet towards my bed instead and before I knew it, I was asleep.

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If seemed as if only two or three hours had passed by when I rolled over in bed and my eyes suddenly popped open. I looked at the clock and, in truth, it had been over twelve hours. _Wow, _I thought. I swung my body to the right, hoping to hit the pillow for a couple more minutes of sleep. _I slept for a long--_

"Ah!" I cried as I fell off the bed. "Ooh. Turned the wrong way," I muttered, rubbing my elbow where I'd landed.

"Valerie?" I heard Dad exclaim as he ran into my room from his. "Are you okay?"

"Eh...yeah. Just rolled off the bed," I replied. "Don't know if I really believe you're up."

"I just woke up. You know I got less sleep than you have since we've been here." I nodded. He started to turn to go back in his room when he stopped and hesitated. "You okay?"

"With what?" I asked.

He sighed. "You can't stay in denial, sweetie. I know it's hard to accept; it's hard for me to accept it and only had a real run-in with Phantom once. Danny's you're friend and--"

I interrupted him. "Dad, I'm fine. I--"

"How could you have come to terms with something like that without thinking about it at all. I saw you when I came in earlier and you were dead asleep. You didn't have time to make--"

"Dad. Trust me when I say that I've had way more time than any person in this place who didn't already know about Danny to think this through," I told him. He looked at me strangely, but let it go. Instead, he asked,

"So how did you get out to the tower and how did you get back?"

I hopped up off the floor. "I rode an ATV out there and...I have a new jet-slide that I rode back," I answered slowly.

My Dad's eyes widened. "What?" He asked. I smiled sheepishly. "How? Where did you get a new one?"

"A ghost girl named Danielle had a new one made for me." He looked even more confused at my answer.

"A ghost girl? You're not making any sense, sweetie. You go from hating ghosts to trusting them in less than twenty-four hours?"

I sighed, knowing a month ago that I would eventually end up having to tell Dad everything. Now that Danny's secret wasn't so secret anymore, I figured it'd be a good time to let him in on everything. But first, I glanced at the clock. 3:07 a.m. I knew I'd gotten back around noon yesterday and I figured Danny had fallen asleep right when he got back too.

_So maybe he's up, too. _

"Dad, I promise I'll explain everything to you later--from why I'm not freaking out about Danny to why I trust Danielle with my new jet-slide," I began. "I want to go see if Danny's awake and when I get back I'll tell you everything, deal?"

Dad looked at me sternly. "You think he'll be awake this early?"

"Well, he probably passed out like the other eighty of us did don't you think?" I asked him. Dad sighed and nodded.

"Go on; see if he's awake, but if he's not, I want you back here and explaining pronto."

"Thanks, Dad!" I ran out the door and into the hallway. I knew Danny's room was on the other side of the cabin. _Wonder if mine and his being on separate sides is a coincidence. _

I passed the first few rooms. I knew a lot of the people in these rooms were people that were at the tower earlier and even though it had been a long while since the ordeal, I heard no noises coming out of their rooms, and I figured they were still asleep.

Passing by the dining room and the living room, I finally walked around a corner that served as the entrance to a long hall with a whole bunch of rooms on it. I knew Danny's was number 13 and was close to the beginning of the hallway. Taking a huge breath I walked up to his door and brought my hand up to knock on his door.

"So everyone who knows so far wants to talk to the hero?"

It was Tucker's voice. I was confused and pressed my ear against the door.

"Got that right. I'm trying to keep people away for right now. I haven't even talked to Mom and Dad save for what we talked about on the ride back since we basically all crashed after getting in. I think my sleeping schedule's gonna be whacked up for a while."

I realized the voices weren't coming from inside the room, but from behind me as the two--and most likely Sam as well--walked toward me. I panicked and looked around for somewhere to hide. I caught sight of a trash can a couple of feet from Danny's door and dashed behind it as the three friends came into sight.

"Is there anyone you would talk to if they came up to you?" Sam asked.

"Well...maybe. Like, I might talk to a friend from school or--"

"Would you talk to Valerie?" Tucker asked.

_Man, I wish I could see his face. _

"I-I don't know. I'd most likely need to do damage control right when she decided to bring it up, but I'm not going to be the one to make the first move."

"The world's greatest hero too scared?" Sam asked in a mocking tone--though I could tell she wasn't being serious. If Danny responded, he didn't do it verbally and the next thing he said was,

"Come on, let's get in the room. We don't want to wake anyone up."

I heard the door open. Biting my lip and hardly even thinking through what I was about to do, I jumped out from behind the garbage can. "I'll...make the first move then."

The three stopped, Danny's hand on the door handle and half-way in the room with Sam and Tucker right behind him. They all stared at me, their faces blank.

"You, ah, overheard everything." Danny didn't mean it as a question and I knew it, but I answered anyway.

"Yeah, and I have a lot of things I need to talk to you about."

"I figured," Danny responded, crossing his arms. Sam and Tucker stood behind him protectively as if I would attack him at any minute. I didn't blame them either.

"Alone, if you don't mind." All three of their mouths opened in protest, but I beat them to it. "I'll talk to him in his room and he can tell you everything after I get done, but I want to be alone with him when I tell him."

His friends looked at me with untrusting faces. Danny sighed and turned towards them. "Just go to the living room. I'll be in there in fifteen minutes, and if takes any longer than that, _then _you can come back, okay?"

They nodded, still showing faces that said they didn't trust me for one minute, but they walked away anyway. Danny walked through the open door with me following behind him. I shut the door, feeling a lot less nervous than Danny looked. Sure, I was nervous about finally talking to him, but at least I wasn't acting on knowing his secret for only a few hours. That's how long he thought I'd known, and I'll bet he was wondering what I had to say after such a sort amount of time.

He turned to look at me, trying to show that he wasn't scared, but his eyes threw off the whole look as they only showed fear as to what I was going to say.

"Um, I guess I should start out with saying that I don't hate you or want to destroy you or anything like that and--"

"Why?" he asked, amazement in his voice.

"Okay, well I guess I was really mad right after I found out, but after thinking about it for a while, I--"

"Whoa, whoa! What are you talking about? You haven't even had a day to think about it. I don't know if I want to trust a decision that you hardly thought about."

_Duh, Valerie. Start at the beginning. _

"Um, well, actually, I-I've had about a month to think about it." He raised his eyebrow in confusion, but didn't say anything. I took that as a sign to continue. "You remember saving Dani of course." He nodded, apparently not knowing what that had to do with anything. "Well, I guess you already know that you changed back when that bookcase fell on you and..." I trailed off when I saw his eyes widen and his mouth pop open.

I wanted to wait on his response, so we both stood there in silence for a few seconds. I fidgeted nervously. Finally he responded hoarsely, "What?"

"I've...known your secret for about a month now, and I was going to try and tell you before the asteroid got here, you know, in case we all died, but Jazz kind of cut me off."

His face flushed, most likely thinking about what had happened after Jazz pulled him away from me. "So, um, I suppose that kind of explains the...harsh way you acted to me the day after, huh?"

"Yeah, and I'm sorry for that and for hunting you for so long and for not listening to you when you tried to tell me that you weren't evil."

"Why are you so convinced I'm good? I always thought if you ever found out I'd end up having to sit down and explain what was going on during all the run-ins I had with you," he told me.

"Well, I kind of figured you were good because you weren't exactly on peaceful terms with Vlad. That was the first real hint after the fact."

"Hey, speaking of Vlad, what'd you think of that one?" Danny asked, smiling for the first time since I'd popped out from behind the garbage can.

"Um, well, I hate him a whole lot, and don't like the fact that the guy I trusted the most in my life next to my dad was a liar, but, I kind of found out about him after I let you go after we saved Danielle."

"No way."

"Yeah…that was a rough night for me, but back on you, I do have a few questions." He looked at me expectantly. "_Was _that your dog?" I knew he'd know exactly what I was talking about.

"_NO_," he stressed. "That was a ghost dog that decided I was going to be the one to help him find his chew toy. I'm pretty sure he also wanted to get you to hate me as much as possible too," he added on.

"Okay, I guess I kind of figured that out a month ago, but I wanted to hear it from you." I decided not to mention the whole 'not ruining my life' thing I'd come up with; it was just too much for right now, and I decided that I would bring that subject up later. "How 'bout when you destroyed my suit?"

"I knew a ghost was really in that suit and that I wouldn't need to hold back anything. Got rid of the ghost for a while—course he was actually in the computer—and got rid of that suit—course you just got a new one. Sorry about your board, by the way, even though I didn't do it."

_Huh? Oh, right! _"Oh, don't worry about that. Dani had a new one made for me." A small smile graced Danny's lips when hearing that.

"So…if you had come to terms with everything, like you said, why did you shoot at me a couple of weeks after you found out?"

I sighed. "It was a final test to see if everything added up. I should've been able to base it on what you had already said and done, but hey, that's just me." I shrugged. Danny smiled again. I wanted to ask him where Phantom had disappeared to right before the asteroid was announced, but I also knew my fifteen minutes had to be running up sometime soon, and I also knew I could at least try to talk to Danny some more later.

That being if I could _get _to Danny after today.

"So, friends?" I asked. "We're on peaceful terms now?"

"If you say you've come to terms with everything…I guess so. Friends." We shook hands, but ended up in a hug and for half a moment, and that spark from freshmen year came back. I felt as if I wanted to hug Danny forever. I wanted to put everything behind us as if it never happened…as if I'd never put him second to something that wasn't even important.

But the hug ended, and we both knew it didn't mean anything. In fact, I'm pretty sure that was the last thing on Danny's mind when he pulled me in for a hug. And with the end of the hug, so ended the spark, and when the spark ended, I knew that's all it was. A spark. It was nothing more, but it was also nothing less. A spark could start a fire, but it could just as easily diminish into nothing. And nothing was what the spark between Danny and I had diminished into.

Danny liked—and dare I say loved—Sam, and vice versa. There was the spark that was crucial to a relationship—a spark that could set an entire California forest on fire. I knew I had once liked him, but I also knew love was possibly the farthest thing from my mind at that time, and it was no different now.

"Valerie?" he asked. I was snapped back to the present to see that Danny was standing at the door. "You leaving?"

"Uh, yeah! Sorry." I walked out the door and passed him. I started walking towards my room to tell my dad the entire story. I was also going to finish writing my story about Danny and Danielle. _Hey, I could even add this in there. _

As I walked passed the living room, I glanced through the window to see Sam and Tucker getting up out of their seats. I laughed silently and walked on passed it. It was then I remembered something I had wanted to tell him ever since I learned his secret.

I turned around and, as I expected, he was just about to open the door to the living room. "Hey, Danny."

He stopped with his hand on the handle.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"I guess the Fentons really _couldn't _catch a ghost if it was living under their own roof."

He looked at me strangely for a second before recognition flicked across his face and he smiled. I smiled back and turned to continue on towards my room. I was happy I'd finally told him what I knew. It felt good to be on totally peaceful grounds with him.

"Val?" I turned upon hearing his voice. He hadn't moved. "You wanna come with us?"

Again, I smiled, and walked towards Danny.

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I found it appropriate to include that last line of Val's considering what episode this fic featured. And I also have no clue where that whole spark thing came from—I guess I was just inspired or something, but it makes for a great explainaiton, doesn't it?

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed it!!

Ooh, wait. Wanna sneak peak of a possible upcoming story?

_"Her room. L-look at her room!" The woman screeched._

Jeremy made his way around his wife and stared into Sam's room. It was a complete mess. The window had been broken and shards of glass lay throughout her entire room. The bed was a complete disaster, as Sam had most likely been sitting on it when the intruder had arrived.

Blood speckled the floor and Jeremy found himself wishing beyond all hope that it wasn't his only daughter's. Maybe, just maybe, whoever had kidnapped her had scrapped his skin against the broken glass. 

_He rarely supported her, rarely praised her, or reminded her how dear and precious she was to him._

And now she was gone. He had messed up his years with her and now some lunatic had come and stolen away with his baby. 

Aha! A story which I actually have many plans for. Working on third chapter at the present moment. I got lots of plans and twists for this'n. It sure ain't your regular "someone gets kidnapped in a DP story" story. Look to profile for summery.


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